One Month In and the Blisters to Prove It

It's been one month since we arrived here in the City of Fileo. There are moments where it seems like we just got here, but more often, it feels like a new normal of sorts. So we've found our new haunts, habits, and hopes. There's just so much worth doing here that it can be overwhelming. Lots of art, lots of music, lots of things to do and see. Now it's up to us to actually get out and experience it.

I've been working now for two weeks, one of training and one of serving at Bertucci's Brick-Oven Ristorante in Byrn Mawr, PA. It's an Italian restuarant with upscale pizzas and pasta dishes. I applied basically on a whim on the way to a different interview, and was basically hired on the spot. Kinda odd, but they needed people and I needed to start making income. So I'm now "Jim, and I'll be serving you tonight. What can I get you to drink? Water? Water? Water? Diet and Water? I'll be right back after I punch something." Fascinating how much you learn about a new field on the other side of the table. No offense to you water drinkers out there. I'm one of them, but it's a little frustrating when your income is based on how much your table spends. Just bear that in mind and be gentle, please.

So my feet hurt. But it's getting better. And I'm working alot, but it's ok. And the people I'm working with are showing me the things I felt God calling me to remember. Not everyone has a religious frame of reference. In fact, I'm probably the only person in the restaurant to whom religious things even matter. It's not even on their radar. I need to be reminded that I can't just pick up and talk about Dallas Willard or Erwin McManus to every person I meet. What these people want to talk about is how they're pregnant and don't get along with the baby's father, or how they decided to stop working in a crack house when they saw a couple bring in their four year old to pick up a stash, or how they're breaking up with their girlfriend because she's cheating again. And I don't think any of them own Purpose Driven Life. (Maybe 7 Steps to Your... nevermind.) So, as my dear friend Suze would say, I'm just trying to let the Jesus in me speak to the Jesus in them. I'm listening. I'm going out for smoke breaks just to sit on the curb. I'm walking back over to the strange man who came in to ask for an application (after I walked away once because he creeped me out), only to learn that he was shot in the head several years ago and is trying to get back on his feet. And to look at these people, and the world they inhabit, with no perception of the mysterious, and to know that God sees and loves them too, it's birthing things in me.

This month has awoken a lot of things in me, and I'm ready for this season of life. Ready for this job and the people I get to love, ready to keep writing music now that I've started, ready to pursue God, because my walk with Him isn't gift-wrapped. And I'm ready for that every-changing, ever-ambiguous what's next. And as Rich Mullins said, "I'll sing His song in the land of my sojourn."

Peace.